OUTBREAKS IN A BROKEN SYSTEM. Outbroken, V1's first documentary project from last fall, recently was awarded five first-place awards from national media organizations, affirming the one thing we already know here at Volume One: how important it is to keep telling the meaningful stories of our community.

Last summer around this time was, of course, difficult and confusing for a lot of people. Roughly five months into the pandemic, we were all still trying to figure things out as circumstances changed by the day (a phenomenon that unfortunately somewhat continues even now). Like most everywhere else, at Volume One there were plenty of significant challenges and scary decisions to grapple with. And there still are. But throughout all of that, the staff here at Volume One had at least one key project we were able to focus on, thanks to a significant (and hard to land!) pandemic grant from the Facebook Journalism Project.

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Truly more important than that, however, is the impact we have here at home. And we don’t need shiny trophies to prove it, because your years of support tell us that every day.

NICK MEYER

Owner/Publisher/Editor of Volume One

We eventually called the effort “Outbroken – A Pandemic’s Effect on Wisconsin’s Food and Farms.” It included the stories of local farmers, co-ops, the farmers market, restaurants, Hmong growers, and CSAs, and how this unusual moment in history impacted the local food ecosystem across our region. It was all delivered in a large print and online feature, along with an 8-minute video documentary at VolumeOne.org/Outbroken.        

BEHIND THE SCENES. This photo, from summer 2020, was captured by photographer and videographer Kyle Lehman, as the Volume One crew (Associate Editor Rebecca Mennecke, left, and Video Director Joel Pearish, right)  interviewed Becca Schoenborn (right) and Kendall Williams (left) at the Menomonie Market Food Co-Op about how they had been impacted by COVID-19. (Photo by Kyle Lehman)

Thankfully, the work on that project has turned into a bright spot for us at Volume One at an otherwise difficult time, as it has now earned five first-place awards from state and national-level media organizations. In the case of the Best Multimedia Project Award from the Association for Alternative Newsmedia, which is made up of more than 100 member orgs across most of the biggest markets in the country, we nabbed one of 24 first-place category opportunities from nearly 600 entries.

Notable Recognition

Best Multimedia Project Award 

Association for Alternative Newsmedia 

Best Digital News Project Award 

Local Media Association 

Best Pandemic Story in Print 

Milwaukee Press Club 

Best Pandemic Story in Video 

Milwaukee Press Club 

Best Use of Multimedia 

Milwaukee Press Club

And then there’s the Best Digital News Project Award from the Local Media Association, whose membership boasts some of the largest TV, radio, newspaper, and other media groups across North America. There we competed (and won) in a category with media groups more than 10 times our size, bringing home the gold for little ol’ Eau Claire.

In our nearly 20 years of publishing we’ve never made a habit of submitting for these kinds of awards. But winning them is certainly fun, and validates the work we do in our industry. Truly more important than that, however, is the impact we have here at home. And we don’t need shiny trophies to prove it, because your years of support tell us that every day. Thank you.